FORT SMITH, Ark. – Senior guard Chris Crawford scored 26 points to lead a trio of UAFS players in double-figures on Saturday afternoon, but still, that wasn’t quite enough offense to match the hot-shooting Dallas Baptist Patriots.
Dallas Baptist shot 53 percent from the field and had six players score in double-figures as the Patriots edged the Lions 97-89 in Heartland Conference play at the Stubblefield Center.
It was the second and final game of a brief two-game, conference road game for the Lions, who lost 76-65 to No. 4 St. Edward’s on Thursday night.
The start of Saturday’s game was delayed 25 minutes because of travel delays encountered by members of the officiating crew because of the unexpected wintry weather that blanketed the southern edge of the Arkansas River Valley and southern Oklahoma.
Crawford, who is the Lions’ leading scorer was 10-of-15 shooting from the field and sank all five of his free-throw attempts. Junior guard Seth Hawley added 11 points, and freshman forward David Ward and junior guard Tyler Williams each added 10 points.
UAFS (7-11, 1-5) shot 49 percent from the field (29 of 59) – it was 7-of-22 shooting from 3-point range – and shot only 75 percent from the free-throw line (24 of 32).
Junior forward Matt Morgan collected a team-high seven rebounds, but the Lions still were out-rebounded by five rebounds (36-31).
Dallas Baptist (10-5, 4-1), which is in second place in the conference, made 29 of 55 shots from the field – it was 7-of-19 shooting from 3-point range – and shot just 76 percent from the free-throw line (34 of 42).
Sophomore Zach Lord led the Patriots with 20 points, while senior forward JT Harris and sophomore guard Chandler Jacobs had 16 points apiece, junior guard Carter Brown and junior guard/forward Jonathyn Washington had 12 points apiece and freshman guard Carson Hughes had 11 points.
Brown led the Patriots with seven rebounds.
UAFS will begin a two-game road trip on Thursday when the Lions play the Texas A&M International Dustdevils at 7:30 p.m. at the Kinesiology and Convocation Center in Laredo, Texas.
MEN
HEARTLAND CONFERENCE
DALLAS BAPTIST 97, UAFS 89
Dallas Baptist 48 49 — 97
UAFS 47 42 — 89
Dallas Baptist (10-5, 4-1): Lord 20, Jacobs 16, Harris 16, Washington 12, Brown 12, Hughes 11, Manse 9, Lidiak 1
UAFS (7-11, 1-5): Crawford 26, Hawley 11, Ward 10, Williams 10, Morgan 9, Parker 9, Sivins 7, Ekezie 5, Boyer 2
